Canada Vows Instead To Hunt, Prosecute Hostage-Takers

Canada will not pay ransoms for the release of its citizens held hostage overseas, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday after the gruesome killing of a Canadian in the Philippines.

“Canada does not and will not pay ransom to terrorists, directly or indirectly,” Trudeau said, vowing instead to hunt down and prosecute hostage-takers.

His comments come after Trudeau delivered the grim news on Monday that Canadian John Ridsdel had been beheaded by his captors – the militant Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) – in Jolo, Sulu in the Philippines. Ridsdel’s head was dumped just outside the Jolo City Hall last Monday.

Efforts, however, were continuing to try to secure the release of three others, including another Canadian national, he said.

In decrying ransom payouts, Trudeau explained that they helped to support criminal or terrorist activities, and “endangered the lives of every single one of the millions of Canadians who live, work and travel around the globe” as they could become targets for abduction.

Trudeau said that he and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed in a telephone conversation earlier to press allies on the issue.

“We agreed that it is something that we are going to make sure that we do bring up with our friends and allies around the world as we come to grips with the fact that the world is a dangerous place,” he said.

“We need to make sure that terrorists understand that they cannot continue to fund their crimes and their violence from taking innocents hostage,” he added.

Trudeau said he spoke with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III about possible actions against the kidnappers.

“The discussions I had with President Aquino and are continuing to have with our allies in the Philippines is the need to bring these criminals to justice and to do whatever we can to express that we are very concerned about security of Canadians,” Trudeau said.

HEADLESS BODY

Yesterday, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) announced the recovery of a decapitated body believed to be that of Ridsdel.

AFP-Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said the headless body was recovered by joint elements of the Talipao Police and Special Action Force (SAF) with the help of Talipao Barangay Police Auxiliary Team (BPAT) at the vicinity of Bud Samin, Sitio Tibangaw in Barangay Gata, Talipao, Sulu.

“There was no indication that the victim was beheaded in the area due to the absence of blood stains in the scene,” according to the report.

OFFENSIVE PLANNED

With the beheading crisis, President Aquino vowed to launch a military assault to neutralize the Abu Sayyaf.

“Casualties are to be expected. But what has to be of utmost importance is neutralizing the criminal activities of the ASG,” Aquino said in a statement.

“This murder was meant to terrorize our whole population. The Abu Sayyaf thought they could instill fear in us. Instead, they have galvanized us even further to ensure justice is meted out,” Aquino said.

“We have always been open to talks with those who desire peace, but those who commit atrocities can expect the full might of the state.”

Aquino said the captives were under the control of Radullan Sahiron, one of the Abu Sayyaf’s founders famous for losing one arm in battle against the military.

He said Sahiron had consolidated his forces around himself and the captives in Sulu, a small Muslim-populated archipelago about 1,000 kilometers from Manila. Jolo is the biggest island in Sulu.

“‘This presents both a problem and an opportunity. It is a problem because of the sizeable force surrounding Sahiron and the captives, but it is also an opportunity because smashing these forces is within our grasp,” Aquino said.

Ridsdel, fellow Canadian tourist Robert Hall, Hall’s girlfriend Filipina Marites Flor, and Norwegian resort manager Kjartan Sekkingstad were kidnapped seven months ago from yachts at a marina inn Davao City, more than 500 kilometers from Jolo.

In a recent video, Ridsdel, a retiree in his late 60s, said his captors would kill him on April 25 if a ransom of $6.4 million was not paid.

Hours after the deadline passed, police in thePhilippines said two people on a motorbike dropped a head in a plastic bag near city hall on Jolo island.

The Abu Sayyaf is also believed to be holding a Dutch bird watcher kidnapped from a southern Philippine island in 2012, as well as 18 Indonesian and Malaysian sailors abducted over the past month.

LUCRATIVE ‘BUSINESS’

The Philippine military is finding it increasingly difficult to weaken Abu Sayyaf, whose name translates as “Bearer of the Sword” and is based in the southern island of Jolo.

Although it is a rebel group fighting for an independent Islamic nation, its militants often seem more motivated by the money they can make from kidnappings and piracy.

Neighboring Indonesia said last week after 14 tugboat crew were kidnapped that piracy on a shipping route along its sea border with the Philippines could reach Somalian levels and warned commercial vessels to avoid the area.

Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based counter-terrorism expert, said there were links between the ASG and Islamic State-backed groups in Indonesia, the faction behind Monday’s beheading appeared to be in it for the money.

“This ransom business has been hugely successful for Abu Sayyaf … it’s gotten them lots of money and freedom to operate,” she said.

Ridsdel, 68, was snatched from a high-end holiday resort last year and beheaded on Monday when the deadline for buying his freedom expired.

The group’s price for his life was P300 million, the same set for another Canadian, a Norwegian, and a Filipino woman who appeared with him in a video appealing to their governments to save them.

‘BOARD AND LODGINGS’

The Philippines rarely publicizes payments of ransom, but it is widely believed no captives are released without them. Security experts say brokers, messengers and go-betweens are involved at multiple levels, some taking substantial cuts.

Payments are euphemistically called “board and lodgings.”

A German couple seized on their yacht in 2014 was released after $5.3 million was paid and, in 2000, the Libyan government, acting as an intermediary, handed over $10 million to free 10 European and Middle Eastern tourists.

Security analyst Rommel Banlaoi said executing Westerners raised Abu Sayyaf’s profile and the potential sums involved would encourage other rebel groups to play supportive roles in the business.

“The beheading of John Ridsdel has just increased ASG’s leverage,” he said. “The risks for other captives have become higher as ASG just demonstrated that it was not bluffing when imposing deadlines.”

Source:
courtesy of MANILA BULLETIN

by Elena L. Aben, AFP, Reuters, And AP

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